Spring Breaks
by Thea-Zara
Summary: Even the longest of Winters must end.


**Spring Breaks**

A Daria FanFic by Thea Zara

As the drunken crowds pulsed with the music, two relatively sober men led the swaying blond outside 'for some air'. As they slipped out into the night, she lurched toward the tallest young man, the one holding her right wrist.

"Paul I don't fee' so good. 'm gonna be sick." As she coughed and heaved the men both let go of her and stepped back in disgust, sneer's playing across their good looks, turned their features ugly in the shadows.

"Don't let this one puke on herself. The last one did and it ruined it for me."

"What was that skank's name again? Paula? Pam?"

"Pila, Pila Mulroy. I wasn't sure myself until I was checking her wallet. Stupid whore. Dead lay though. That stuff you got from your uncle really knocked her out."

"Yeah, if this one ever stops hurling, she might still have some wiggle in her."

"So whats this one's name?"

"Brenda Tyler or something like that. Who gives a fuck what she's saying when your looking at a pair like those?"

The cocking of a gun brought the two college seniors back to reality.

"Put your hand up and don't move. You're under arrest."

The pair looked down the barrel of the very much sober, and very angry young woman in front of them as a flurry of officers began cuffing them and reading them their Miranda rights.

The OIC pulled her aside to congratulate her. "That was a hell of an acting job there, Taylor. Even I was getting worried they'd actually slipped you something."

"Thank you, sir. We got em don't we? Dead to rights slam shut case?"

"From the moment they said the last victim's name. Go on and fill out your paperwork and then take a couple days off, you've been putting in a lot of hours on this case."

"Yes, sir."

Brittany finished her paperwork with a cool detachment, then signed out. She kept a wall of control for as long as she could, but once she slid behind the wheel of her car in the vacant tomb of the parking garage, she felt the mortar in that wall start to give.

Small trembles at first, then shakes, then finally the wall crumbled. Her screams of anger and anguish echoed through the garage for more than five minutes, before she could could control her delayed reactions to the night before.

Memories of being groped and treated like nothing more than a slab of meat suitable for mounting. Memories of all the faces those bastards had left shattered. Memories of her own haunted eyes in an unfamiliar and dingy mirror.

"NO! Not going there not now, Damnit, Brit... get yourself together."

She forced it all back down inside, and slammed the wall back up, then wiped her eyes and checked her hair, avoiding her own eyes in the rear view mirror, as she did.

Only when she was convinced that no hint of her breakdown was evident, did she turn the key and pull out of the parking lot.

By the time she reached her apartment, the sun was peeking its head up over her part of the world, sending streaks of color across the ocean and sky, but even that beauty didn't touch her. She slid her key into the lock on her door, then jumped as the doorknob twisted itself out of her hand and pulled away.

She found herself face to face with her oldest and dearest friend. She let out a small 'Eep!' of surprise then ran forward a few steps and pulled Jody into a long tight hug.

A little shocked by the welcome, Jody hugged her back, then wiggled out of her grasp and pointed to the two other things she'd brought with her: Daria and Jane, each asleep on the couch. The latter with her mouth open, snoring.

The squeal of delight send three dogs running for the hills and aroused a male puma at the local zoo, but failed to get a rise out of Jane or Daria.

What Brittany's sonic squeak didn't manage was achieved by simply cooking breakfast. Within moments of the bacon hitting the griddle Jane was groggily making her way to the kitchen, and Daria soon followed; although neither managed a coherent thought, let alone word, for several minutes.

Brittany simply basked in their comforting presence and flitted about the kitchen frying up a wholely unhealthy breakfast that would, she hoped, taste divine.

Once she'd gotten to a less hectic point in her cooking she turned to face her three guests with questions. "What are you guys DOING here?"

Jody jumped up and started putting bread in the toaster. "What? We can't just want to visit an old friend? Besides it IS spring break, free room and board in a sunny local is always a plus."

It seemed plausible, but one look at the sleepy, but guilty looks on her other two guests' faces and Brittany knew why they were there.

She spun to face Jody; good cheer fled and rage taking its place, barely held in check by sheer force of will. When she managed to speak her voice was strained and harsh, "You told them didn't you?"

Before Jody could answer Daria spoke up, "No, she didn't, I figured it out for myself. Jane was there when I found out. I wasn't going to say anything, but when we heard what you'd spent the last two months doing, we figured you could use some friends to talk to."

The rage swept back and she started crying as Daria, of all people, pulled her into a tight embrace.

Some dry scrambled eggs, a pound of slightly over cooked bacon, and eight perfect hash browns later the four of them began talking about the past.

They sat around the small kitchen table drinking coffee, while Brittany worked up the nerve to talk about her freshman year. They talked about all manner of unimportant things, all the while the white elephant sat in the corner ignored to the best of their abilities, until finally Brittany spoke of it.

"I shared an apartment with Beth and Angie. We made the cheer leading squad. We had our choice of sororities all wanting us to pledge. We partied three nights a week, rolled through the bare minimum of classes four days a week, then started the whole thing over again. Beth and Angie found steady guys, football players." The word football dripped with venom.

"The week before homecoming there was, of course, another party. There's always one more party to attend, and I did. I let guys from the team get me a drink."

"The world became a haze of faces... faces I knew. I remembered what was going on, what they were doing to me, but my brain was so muddled I could barely speak, barely keep my eyes open, but I did. I tried pushing them away, but my mind couldn't make my hands move. It was like my brain forgot how to work. Then the world started to skip, time jumped forward in little leaps. Short ones then longer."

"The next morning I was standing in some dingy bathroom, staring at a mirror, and the fog rolled out. I remember looking into my own eyes, as the reality of what had happened hit me. It was like a part of me broke into a million pieces, something broken so badly that it couldn't ever be fixed."

"I stood there for so long, just looking at myself. After awhile, I heard people moving around in another room and suddenly I bolted. I ran back to my apartment, and locked the door behind me."

"Angie and Beth were sitting there waiting for me. They told me how they heard all about me coming on to their boyfriends last night. That I'd told them 'If you don't sleep with me I'll tell everyone you raped me.' That I'd take the whole team down with them."

"Five years if being friends, squad mates, and they believed two guys they knew less than two months over me. Rapist scum over 'Good time Brittany'."

"I went to the hospital, campus security, and the police. I did everything I could do, but they claimed there wasn't enough proof. The DA wouldn't touch it. I wonder just how much that had to do with the fact that it would have effectively ended the football season. Instead of the monsters who did this to me getting what they deserve, I got tried by public opinion. Just about the only time anyone talked to me for the rest of the term was to put me down."

"I didn't have a place to stay, Beth and Angie refused to live with me and moved into a sorority. I quit the squad, most of the girls had boyfriends on the team, boyfriends who'd been involved with what happened, or who helped cover it up."

"I didn't give up, it just wasn't a place I wanted to be anymore. So I found a place I did want to be. Someplace I could make a difference."

When she finally stopped speaking she realized she was the only one in the room not in tears.

After going through a box and a half of tissues, they moved into the living room to talk further.

Jane, who hadn't said more than two words so far, finally spoke up, "Is that when you joined the police academy... or whatever you had to do to become a cop?"

"I joined the police academy, and it was pretty exciting. Lots of weirdos. There was this guy who could imitate almost anyone or anything, this big goofy gun nut, this guy who would hit on anything... the commandant was a total klutz, and obsessed with his fish." Brittany held a straight face for as long as she could while Jody and Jane started howling despite themselves. Finally, she dissolved into laughter along with them.

Daria watched for a moment, confused, until Jody sputtered out "Police Academy" between giggles.

She got the reference but not why the three women were turning red with laughter in front of her. She chalked it up to a shared youth, and waited for the giggles to die down.

Despite everything, Brittany felt so good to be laughing. She hadn't really laughed in years. Maybe since those sleepovers, where they'd watch 'Police Academy' movies and had pillow fights to find out who would grow up to marry 'Mahoney'. Just the act of laughing made her feel more free.

After the giggles died down, she seriously answered the question Jane had asked, "I went back to Lawndale. Ashley Amber cleaned dad out in the divorce, but she always liked me and let me stay with her. I love my dad but I can't believe he fell for her 'dumb blond' act, that was so stupid."

Daria and Jane shared a guilty look for a moment as Brittany continued. "She busted him screwing around with Tiffany Blum-Deckler, how skeezy is that? She's younger than me. He was using Ashley Amber's name for some kind of tax scam; putting stuff in her name, but she knew what he was doing and instead of getting stuck in debt for all his taxes, she paid what was owed and kept all 'her' property in the settlement. As per the prenup."

"I stayed with her and tried to think about what I was going to do. She suggested I volunteer at the crisis hotline. So I did. I mean what else did I have to do, right? I spent two months talking to people, offering support, trying not to think about it. Instead it was all I thought about."

"There was this little ball of rage inside me, I wanted to hurt something, someone. Someone who deserved it, someone who hurt others, for fun or gain. It wasn't going away, I didn't know how to make it go away."

"Then one day I was heading home and this guy grabs me down on Dega St. He tried to pull me into an alley. My body froze. I knew what he wanted, and the only thing that was going through my mind was the look in my eyes that morning in the mirror. Suddenly that little ball of rage exploded. I started remembering those moves Ms Barch made us learn."

"I broke his nose, his wrist, and kneed him in the... well you know, and then I placed him under citizens arrest and called 911. For a little while that tiny ball of rage was gone. Thats when I realized what I wanted to do with my life."

"I took the classes I needed at Lawndale Community College, then got into the officer training program. You'll never believe who helped me get in."

Daria spoke up "It was Ms Li wasn't it?"

Brittany looked over at her startled. "Yeah, how did you know?"

Daria smirked before continuing, "Anything for the glory of 'Laaaaaaawndale High' right? Besides she likes to have friends in nice lofty locations... that they owe to her."

"I think she regretted it after I gave her a speeding ticket my first month on patrol duty." The three girls gaped at her a moment then started cracking up.

After the giggles faded Brittany continued, "After I got out of training I started with the LPD. I swear just about every cop there had it in for me, even the other two girls. It started out most of the guys thought I couldn't cut it, or pretended like they did to get in my pants, and that's what turned the girls on me. It was a walking talking sexual harassment lawsuit, but if I'd have taken the shot, I'd probably never get hired on anywhere again. Instead I did my time and got transfered just as soon as I could."

"I ever get a chance to go back as a detective or someone in charge, I'd love to get some changes done there. After three months I was beginning to think I'd made a mistake, then I got offered a job down here. I started making a difference."

"Then Spring Break rolled around, and I got tagged to work the crowds. Jody and I ran into each other then. We'd kind of lost track after high school, and she assumed I was here on break. I let her think that, at least until she watched me take down this girl who'd been robbing guys blind at the bar."

Jody grinned at the memory. "Brit here being a cop was the last thing I expected. When she jumped up and tried chasing that girl I thought she was nuts or that it was some girl who, God help me, had slept with Brittany's boyfriend. She caught up with her, wrestled her to the ground. The crowd went NUTS. Meanwhile I was stunned silly. The cops showed up and took both of them away. I grabbed a cab and went to bail her out. Trying to figure out how I was going to afford it the whole way."

"Instead she finds me filling out a statement for the DA and getting ready to head home. I turned in my paperwork and took her back to my place. We talked and hung out till her break was over. The next time she was in Lawndale she ran into Beth."

"I got roped into doing some 'where are they now' thing for the alumni association, and Beth had won one of the alumni scholarships. I mentioned seeing Brittney that Spring, and she started ranting about how Brittney ruined her life. That girl is a waste of skin I swear."

"Her 'boyfriend' was arrested for robbing and shooting some guy in a liquor store, and she blamed Brittany because he, and I quote, 'Only started drinking after that skank started telling lies on him.' I didn't know the whole situation but I knew Brittany. I told Beth to shut her stupid yap, and went looking for Angie. I figured she'd know the whole story. Turns out she wasn't a good witness."

Daria and Jane looked at her confused.

"Angie's dead. Someone tried the same thing with her they did with Brittany, only they screwed up the dosage."

"Wait a minute. One friend is attacked, another dies and Beth is STILL defending him?" Daria asked stunned.

Surprisingly, Jane spoke up, "She can't admit that she was that wrong. She'd have to own what she did, the role she played. Some people just aren't built that way. They can't accept the truth that they messed up. She knows, she has to know, but won't own it. It's going to rot the rest of her life, like some kind of cancer, from the inside out."

Daria gave her friend a strange look as Jody continued. "I found out about Angie, then told the Alumni Board I had a family emergency and came here. We talked."

Brittany picked up the story again. "Jody and me started talking regularly, then she spent time here every summer. Kept a key huh?"

Jody nodded sheepishly. Brittany gave her a reassuring smile then turned to face her other guests. "What I want to know is how you find out, you know, about what happened?"

Daria got this vision of herself in a dark room with a very bright light in her eyes when Brittany asked her question. She forced herself to relax then tried to think of the least hurtful way to tell her side of the tale.

"My sister Quinn worked with Kevin during her senior year. She helped him get good enough grades that Great Prairie State decided they could keep his gpa high enough to make him worth their while. I guess they were desperate for football talent, something about a scandal during spring training. After he realized they weren't dating, they got along really well, and he seemed to look up to her. Something about being smart and still cool. So after he got to G.P.S. he called Quinn to ask her advice. He got me instead."

"He said some of his teammates warned him about roofs and hoes. He didn't wanna seem stupid and wanted Quinn to explain it to him. I told him to stay away from both and that I'd have Quinn call him, but it sounded like there was a story there. I talked to a few people and did a little digging. The stuff I found made me sick. Then I found a website... with pictures."

"WHAT!"

"They called it their 'trophy room' hundreds of pictures of different girls all who looked stoned out of their gourd or passed out. All run off of one of the school's servers."

"I talked to a couple friends who know web stuff, people I trusted for discretion. I had them make a copy of the entire site, and as much information as they could get me on who was hosting it. I made copies and sent them on to the local police and the schools administration and then watched nothing happen, but the website disappearing. After everything they still tried to cover it up."

"Kevin was the key. He kept calling Quinn, and Quinn kept me informed. I don't think he understood most of it, and I'm positive he wasn't involved in anything. Quinn just asked him the right questions and then passed on the answers."

"I wrote my story and got it published, then watched it get picked up by the AP. Within a week six players were up on charges and another ten were under suspension with charges pending."

"I, uh, did something though. I took your pictures out of the records. I still don't know if that was the right thing to do, but I couldn't turn them in; knowing that some courtroom full of people could end up looking at them blown up as posters someday, or splattered all over the news. I deleted them before we burned the final copy of the disks."

Brittany was very near tears when she spoke again, "Thank you. I don't know if I could have stood facing those people again."

"I should have came to see you, but I didn't know what to say, or if you even remembered. I mean how do you tell someone something like that? I didn't tell anyone about you, at least not then."

Brittany looked at her questioning, but Jane is the one who spoke instead. "She felt I needed to hear it. I barely saw Daria between her schedule and mine. After all the new wore of being at BFAC I started slacking off, staying out later hanging, trying new things. I told myself I was expanding my horizons. I was being a little too trusting, and probably more than a little stupid, truth be told."

Jody piped up looking a bit concerned, "Uh Jane maybe you shouldn't be confessing to a police woman about your drug use."

Before Brittany could promise to not arrest her, Jane started laughing. "I don't mean drugs, at least not illegal ones. At the most, a bit of underage drinking. I meant other things. Things that left me vulnerable; things that scared the hell out of Daria when she found out. I wish like hell I had a picture of her face, I swear to god it was priceless ."

Brittany and Jody looked over at Daria, confused. She was beat red with embarrassment. "Had to remind me about 'The Day We Don't Discuss' didn't you, Lane? Let's just say Jane was experimenting with various stimuli in the leather arena and leave it at that shall we?"

They nodded, Brittany looking rather confused and Jody looking rather... intrigued, as Daria continued. "I was worried she'd get into trouble. That she'd trust the wrong person. We argued."

"I told her she was overreacting, and that just because she was a prude that didn't mean every guy was a perv after one thing. I thought she was freaked out by my, um... tastes."

"I was, but that was beside the point. I, uh, told her about what happened to illustrate my point. At first she thought I was just being my typical jealous self, Lord knows I pulled that enough over the years. When I got to the part about you, she finally believed me. She promised to be more careful."

"After that we didn't really talk about what happened, at least not until Jody tracked me down and started harassing me for the five year reunion. 'It'll make a great piece for your show.' she said. 'You can throw fame in Ms. Li's face.' she said. 'I'll OWE you big.' she said. HA! She failed to mention that Ms Li had been fired for misappropriation of funds."

"Still it was wasn't too bad. A lot of people liked the segment... If we're still on the air we might open to bribes to do it again." Jane mused.

There was a second or two of silence and then Jody and Daria spoke in unison, "Fat chance." They looked at each other a moment then both smirked with satisfaction.

Brittany turned up the air conditioner and grabbed three ultra colas from the fridge before sitting back down in the living room.

"So you two started talking again over the 5 year reunion, right? How did I become the topic of the hour, then?" Brittany asked.

"Well, Daria and Jane were wondering if you were going to come. I told them you were working on a case, which of course lead to more questions. Once Daria found out what had been going on she started pushing to come for a visit. I didn't know why honestly, I thought she might want to do some kind of story at first, about what you've been up to."

"I didn't want to tell anyone else but Jody kept putting us off and I was worried. Doing what you've been doing. I was worried for you on a lot of levels. I know I haven't always been as good about this friend thing, but you were one to me, even when maybe I didn't deserve it. Jane and I decided we needed to talk to you no matter what."

Jane jumped in, "We should have talked to you sooner. I mean, if you didn't know there were medical repercussions. I don't think either of us realized that until recently." She frowned then continued on, "Anyway Jody kept stalling us, and finally we told her why we were worried. After we got the segment aired, we swung back by Lawndale to pick up Jody, and well... here we are."

"I'm really glad to see you guys, even if its because of all that stuff. I, uh, I'm really tired. It's after one, and I've been up all night. I'm off for a few days, why don't we all get some sleep and then maybe take in some of the tourist traps. How long are you three staying?"

Daria was quiet for a moment before answering. "We have a few days free, but we need to talk more. We need to talk about what you've been doing these last couple months. Maybe after some sleep, though."

Brittany stood on the deck, face raised to feel the warm wind blowing across her face. She listened to the ocean and the gulls, and breathed in her surroundings. She had awoke to find her bedroom bathed in the fading pink of a dying sunset, and now stood in its disappearing light.

She tensed as she heard the glass door sliding open, but forced herself to relax as Daria stepped next to her at the rail. For a minute or so they stood together in silence watching the blue fade out of the sky, and the stars beginning to shine down.

Finally, Daria spoke, "You got the men you were looking for, didn't you?"

For a moment Brittany wasn't standing on her deck with her friend. For a moment she was back to the night before; she was back standing between two men who enjoyed destroying lives, two men who wanted to destroy hers. She felt bands tightening around her chest and her throat, cutting off her airway. Knuckles gripping the rail she forced herself to calm down and slowly the bands around her body relaxed. After another few seconds she finally answered. "Yeah, we got them."

They stood together in silence for a few minutes, before Daria spoke again. "You're good at what you do, three commendations, and the chief seems to worship the ground you walk on."

"What makes you say that?"

"I read it, big article in the newspaper. Usually I'm skeptical, but I think I'll make an exception in your case. There's more to it though isn't there?" Daria said carefully.

"Huh?"

"You never used to be an angry person. Now you're angry all the time. You never talked to anyone after did you?"

"Talked to anyone?"

"Yes. A doctor, a shrink, someone who might help you deal with all the stuff what happened left inside you."

"I had one police required session, I told him what he wanted to hear and got back on duty. I refuse to really talk to one after Manson."

"That quack? Don't tell me you were in that idiotic self esteem class, where you?"

"I wish. She told my mom and dad I was depressed and needed some adjustments. My dad put me on medication, and I went from me to some Barbie doll wanna be. He couldn't be happier."

"My God, why didn't she try that with me?"

"There was some kind of incident. They kept it hush hush, but I heard my dad talking about it. Some kid reacted badly. Li kept her on, but for 'legal reasons' she wasn't allowed to even hint at medication."

"So why didn't your parents take you off medication?"

"Mom and Dad were getting a divorce, and like I said dad just adored the results of the medication. I was the perfect Stepford daughter."

"No offense, but your dad is a jerk."

"No argument there."

Something occurred to Daria, "So, if you don't mind me asking, why did the department insist you talk with a shrink?"

"It's department requirement after you shoot someone."

Daria spent the next several moments with her mouth opening and closing in a rather fishlike manner as she processed what Brittany had just told her, and tried to figure out how to reply.

Brittany watched, and despite the sheer inappropriateness of it, found herself fighting laughter. "Daria please stop that. You look any more like a goldfish, I'm gonna laugh and you'll think I'm even more insane than you already do."

She stopped for a moment then finally managed to get out a few words, "I don't think you're crazy. Well no more than the rest of us, but still. Do, uh, you want to talk about it?"

Brittany thought for a moment before answering. "Not too much to talk about, me and my partner responded to a domestic violence call. Guy was using his girlfriend as a punching bag, My partner was cuffing him, when the idiot girlfriend went after him with a knife."

"You can't really blame her, I guess, if he was abusing her all that time."

"You don't understand, she stabbed my partner. She was trying to save her asshole boyfriend from going to jail, and stabbed my partner."

"Christ."

"Trust me he had nothing to do with it. She came up behind my partner and stabbed him from behind. She hit a lung. I had been radioing in the information when it happened. I called for backup and pulled my gun, but she was behind my partner. The stupid cow tried to pull the knife out, but it was caught on his ribs. Instead she pulled his gun."

"She pointed it in my direction and I swear its like the world went into slow motion. I mean, you see that in the movies and on tv, and its like ooh nice dramatic touch, but for me it really happened like that. I watched her bring the gun up and I watched her try to fire. She was reaching to turn the safety off when I shot her. She staggered and then fell over."

"The boyfriend had actually been trying to help my partner. He pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around the wound, trying not to move the knife. He was crying, I remember that so clearly, crying like a little kid. This was the same jerk who'd been calling us interfering pigs, and screaming about killing whoever called the fucking cops, and here he sat bawling."

"I'm so sorry."

"She was declared D.O.A, and my partner went into emergency surgery. The knife wound to the lung was bad, but fixable. The nerve and spinal damage from her trying to pull the knife out, wasn't. He'll never walk again. The scumbag boyfriend got off. He claimed she was crazy and had been the one abusing him. Who was I to argue, right?"

"I took my required days off, and I said all the right things to the shrink, and I went back to work. That was when I got the first of those three commendations. I turn my back and my partner gets stabbed; gets paralyzed for life, and I get an award. On what planet does that make sense?"

"I don't know." Daria was on the verge of tears.

"That woman had been a victim her whole life. She let herself be a victim even at the end. She didn't make a stand for herself, she made a stand to save a man who'd been arrested for domestic violence twice. She did it to save the man who regularly beat the crap out of her for kicks, and I shot her."

"Brittany..."

"Don't, ok, just don't."

"What?"

"Don't give me the speech. The one about how I had to do it, about how I did the right thing, that it was her or me. I've heard it all before and honestly I get it. I know I did what needed done. The problem is I liked it."

Daria stared at her, shocked beyond words as Brittany continued. "I know that sounds horrible. It wasn't her I enjoyed killing, really. She was just some sad little substitute for the parts in me that are unfixable. The victim I'd love to bury forever. Do you think I'll ever be able to do that."

Daria didn't know how to answer.

Daria reached out and took Brittany's hand in her own before speaking again. "I understand not trusting that the next psychiatrist won't be another Manson, but you need to talk to someone. I think talking to us might have helped some, but I think this has been festering inside you too long. It will rot you from the inside out if you let it."

"Maybe you're right. Something happened last night. I'm afraid of who I'm becoming; of what I'm becoming."

"What happened?"

"We got a few leads on these guys, but no hard evidence. We knew what they had been looking for in victims, and where they liked to pick them up. Over the last couple weeks I was part of a sting operation. We had a rough description of the two guys, and knew they picked up at least three of the girls at one bar. Last night they picked a new victim... me."

Daria squeezed her hand, and Brittany continued. "He introduced himself and bought me a drink, a drink with a little extra kick to it. Then he introduced his friend. They kept up small talk and waited until it seemed like I was stoned stupid then tried to lead me outside. Just as soon as they said enough to get themselves convicted, I pulled my gun and my backup came in for the arrest."

"It seems that whole thing would be hard on you." Daria said quietly.

"It was, but it wasn't as bad as you'd think. I mean I was doing my job and I was stopping these two predators from hurting anyone else. What really scares me is what happened as we left the building. When I looked at them, I didn't see them, I saw Angie and Beth's boyfriends."

"WHAT!"

"It wasn't them, didn't really look a thing like either of them, honestly, but all of the sudden it was them. I was standing there and I froze. If they hadn't been so sure I was drugged, they'd have figured something was up and at the least I'd have blown the bust. The thing is, I wasn't afraid, not one bit."

"That's good isn't it?"

"I don't know, I guess if I had to pick between fear and anger I'm gonna go with anger, but the thing is, I was angry and armed."

"You were carrying? Undercover?"

"I had my sidearm in my purse. I pulled it out and I stood there while they talked, and the more they talked the more I wanted to hurt them. I pulled my gun and I stood there pointing it at them. The only thing that kept me from shooting, the only thing, was that I wanted them both to suffer. A bullet was much too quick."

"My backup started moving in then. They'd seen me pull my weapon, and assumed I was in trouble. Those jerks said enough to hang themselves in court while I stood there, and I initiated the arrest. After it was all over, when they were being read their Miranda rights, I realized they were just two guys. Predators who deserved to fry for the things they'd done, yes, but not those two men."

"I didn't ruin the bust, and we got those sob's but what if I had? How would I be able to live with myself, and what's wrong with me?"

"I feel so broken inside. Those bastards broke me and no matter what I do, I can't seem to get all the pieces to fit again. Somethings just work wrong and others don't work at all. I mean I haven't dated anyone since... well just since. Like you said, I'm so angry all the time. I'm starting to scare myself."

Brittany burst into tears, and after a moments hesitation, Daria pulled her close holding her. "Maybe you'll never fix all the pieces. I don't know, but I know some jobs are too big to do on your own. You're not on your own anymore. We're here, and we want to help."

"Really?" Brittany asked in a small voice.

Before Daria could answer two other voices spoke up in near unison, "Really."

Daria and Brittany both jumped as Jane and Jody stepped onto the deck.

"How long have you been standing there?" Brittany asked.

"Long enough." Jody said as the pair of them moved in to hug Brittany from either side. "Long enough."

They spent most of the night talking.

Brittany realized there was too much baggage to ignore, and after extracting a promise from all three girls to come and 'bust her out' if they tried anything she didn't agree to, she agreed to talk to a psychiatrist. It was going to be hard, and may never work, but with the help of her friends, Brittany was going to take her life back.

Daria and Jody set off the next day to do research into therapists in the area, while Jane and Brittany did a little shopping for the next night. All four returned several hours later with their respective missions complete.

A bowl of popcorn, 12 wine coolers, 2 extra large pizzas, and a horribly off key bout of karaoke later, Brittany pulled something out from under the couch where she'd hidden it earlier that day, 'Police Academy'.

Ten minutes after the movie started, four happy, and slightly tipsy young women, held a battle to the death. A pillow fight royale where the last woman standing won the right to grow up and marry Steve Guttenburg.


End file.
